Eggnog Cheesecake

I made this for Christmas again this year and made the cardinal mistake of opening the pan too early. Huge crack right down the middle, yep! And the sides fell, too. Nonetheless, this is probably one of the best cheesecakes I have ever made. Just don't open the springform pan until it is completely cool.

I have adjusted the spices a bit from the original and upped the cooking time so that it is not a soggy mess. Other than that, squirt on some whipped cream and enjoy!

Eggnog Cheesecake

Ingredients:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2t. nutmeg
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup eggnog
2 eggs
2 tablespoons rum (I used Captain Morgan spiced rum or you can use 2t. rum flavoring)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. In a medium bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar, nutmeg and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.

4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

5. In a food processor or mixer combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and eggnog; process until smooth. Blend in eggs, rum and nutmeg. Pour mixture into cooled crust.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

7. Reduce heat to 250 and bake for 55 minutes, or until center of cake is barely firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and immediately loosen cake from rim with a knife (DO NOT open the pan up). Let cake cool completely before removing the rim.

Cheaters Eggnog Bundt Cake

We had a whirlwind weekend of Christmas activities to usher in my favorite holiday. I don't think I could have fit more events into two days if I tried.

Friday we picked out our Christmas tree in possibly the coldest weather we have had yet. Matthew put his arms around each frozen pillar of tree and helped Amanda and I pick based on the girth, not the shape, of the White & Nova Scotia Pines. It was definitely a gamble and at $65 - yes, I did pay that for a Christmas tree - I was hoping it would be beautiful. Turns out, the girth trick did work because my tree is 6 feet of perfectly spaced branches laden with my 1950's glass ornament collection. I am in love with this tree.

Saturday night we decorated my parents tree and we had a full house to do it. My sister brought over her new pup and my mom's dog was there as well. Organized chaos! It was for this night of festive fun that I decided to bring the dessert.

Eggnog was a must ingredient but other than that, I had no idea. It was on one of my favorite sites Taste of Home that two lovely ladies came to my aid with a quick and easy cake. I will admit that the central ingredient is a box vanilla cake mix and I am very sorry to disappoint any baking purists, but the results were well worth the shortcut.

This cake, when warm and first glazed, reminded me of an eggnog Krispy Kreme donut, but once it cooled off, the trademark heavier bundt cake texture came through. The flavors are fantastic and I have nothing to add to this recipe. Just glaze it once when it has come out of the oven and then drizzle glaze over it again when it has cooled.
Ciao!

Eggnog Bundt Cake
Ingredients - Cake:
4 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1 packaged yellow cake mix
1 1/2 cups commercially prepared eggnog
2 eggs
1 teaspoon rum extract
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Ingredients - Glaze:
2c. powdered sugar
2T. melted butter
3T. eggnog
1t. vanilla

Directions - Cake:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cake mix, eggnog, eggs, rum extract, nutmeg and melted butter on low speed for 30 seconds or just til moistened. Beat on medium for 2 minutes or until smooth. Pour into greased bundt pan.
Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
Brush with half of the eggnog glaze.
Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Drizzle with remaining glaze.

Directions - Glaze:
Combine the glaze ingredients in a bowl, whisk well. Add more eggnog if needed for a consistency that will drizzle from a spoon.

Fruitcake for the Fruitcake Haters

What is there to say about fruitcake really? Most people despise it, and for good reason. I will agree that fruitcake, on average, is a dry, dense brick with nothing for flavour but the sickly sweet afternotes of old candied fruit. Sounds appetizing doesn't it? It certainly doesn't look appetizing. Have you ever seen fruitcake in a store? Nothing is as unappealing as that.

I will admit to buying store fruitcake last year. The recipe was a new one and I will never use it again, by the way. Fruitcake Rumballs promised to be delicious and I believed the catchy descriptions. I crumbled the storebought cake into the food processor with cocoa and rum and tried to make a dough that I could roll. Bottom line, the balls were lumpy and wet and the only one who ate them was my mom, I think out of obligation. For future, I will stick to my tried and true rumballs and leave the store's fruitcake to the Boxing Day bargain shoppers.

So after my fruitcake issues, you might wonder why I am posting a fruitcake recipe. I hate fruitcake like the next person but this recipe from my Canadian Living Christmas cookbook is a wonderful cake. The book claims it will win over all fruitcake haters and they were right. Except for the few in my family who refuse to eat glazed fruit no matter what, I managed to pawn off many slices and people came back for seconds.

The trick to this recipe is the dough that binds it together. There is more of it than most fruitcakes I have made and it is not cloyingly sweet, nor is it molasses bitter and dark. The orange and almond flavor is prevelant and the cake is delicious. I use more raisins and nuts than fruit to make sure my family will eat it. I would highly recommend you give this one a try in the coming weeks. Just make sure you leave a good 3 weeks for it to mellow before serving.

A couple notes since I made it on the weekend...
I used the full amount of nuts and raisins and only 6 cups total of fruit - mixed candied and mixed peel. If you are using whole fruits like the recipe calls for, then use the full amounts. If you are using the tiny diced mixed fruits you can use alot less and should or else there will not be enough batter to go around.
Use metal loaf pans if possible. The glass ones that I used took a lot longer to cook, 3.5hrs, and I found that the cake does not cook as evenly.
Let the cakes cool for as long as possible before removing them from the pans. They should be completely cool, otherwise the cake starts to have small cracks.
Once the cakes are on a board and out of the pans, brush all the surfaces with rum or orange juice or a combination of both.
I stored mine wrapped in plastic wrap and two layers of tinfoil. After a few weeks, brush them with your choice of liquid again.

Give this recipe a shot, it might surprise you.
Ciao!

Light Orange Almond Fruitcake
Canadian Living Christmas Cookbook
Ingredients:
3 cups mixed candied fruits
2 cups golden raisins
3/4 cups candied green cherries cut in half
3/4 cups candied red cherries cut in half
1 1/2 cup chopped candied pineapples
1 1/2 cup coarsly chopped blanched almonds
1 cup candied lemon & lime peels
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp coarsly grated orange rind
1 tsp almond or vanilla extract
1/2 cup orange liqueur or orange juice

Directions:
Grease and flour two 9x5 in. loaf pans; Set aside.
In large bowl, combine the fist seven ingredients; toss with 1/2 cup of the flour. Set aside.

Mix remaining flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In large bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, orange rind and almond or vanilla extract, beating well.
Add flour mixture alternately with orange liqueur or juice. (Three additions of dry, two addition of wet) Mixing just until flour is incorporated. Fold in fruit mixture. The batter will be very thick.

Pour into prepared pans, smoothing tops. Place a shallow pan half filled with boiling water on bottom rack of oven. Bake cakes on center rack in a 250 (yes, 250) degree oven for 2 1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserter into center comes out clean. (This make take as long as 3 hours.) Cover loosely with foil if cakes start to crack. Let cool completely in pans.
If you wish, wrap in two thicknesses of cheese cloth soaked in brandy and in some aluminun foil until ready to eat.

A Simple Applesauce Cake

My fridge turns into an abyss for half used jars of food. I don't know how it happens but eventually I will clean out the fridge and find the tomato sauce I had had so many plans for, or the capers (who uses capers?) that would have been perfect if only I had known where they were.
So that is how this half full jar of applesauce came to be. I needed part of it for the Caramel Apple Cake I made the other day and then stuffed the jar into the fridge and forgot about it. Now, a week later, I need to use it up and I don't have a single applesauce cake recipe. Enter Martha Stewart and her wealth of recipes on the website. A quick search led me to this cake which I am now in love with.
The cake is very simple with subtle flavors. I like it because you can pick up a slice and snack on it, or top it with icecream (we used Chapman's Eggnog icecream) and serve it warm as a delicious dessert. I put the whole cake together in minutes and, what I love best, all the ingredients are staples in my pantry.
I upped the spice and omitted the cardamom in the original recipe, adding allspice instead. Other than that, I did nothing to it. Simple, quick and delicious!
Ciao!

Applesauce Cake
Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
2 cups applesauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
In another bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, and honey until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat just until combined. Beat in applesauce.
Generously coat a nonstick 9-inch tube pan with cooking spray. Spoon batter into pan; smooth top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (but slightly wet), 50 to 60 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack 10 minutes. Turn out of pan onto a cutting board or baking sheet; invert cake onto rack, top side up. Cool completely.

Baking With Rachael Ray

Can Rachael Ray bake? My guess is no. Well, at least not well enough to make the cake featured in her November 2007 magazine. She must have realized that all good magazines need a dessert recipe, or two, and hired a pastry chef to fill this gap.
At any rate, I had to try the cake for my Dad's birthday because a chocolate fan he is not. Caramel on the other hand, is a favorite and this cake looked like it would fill the bill. I love the idea of fruit fillings instead of even more icing.
So the cake was easy to make and tasted delicious. Hard to slice, I found, but I think a serrated knife would have worked so much better, as the cake is delicate and the apple slices need to be cut through as well.
A few quick tips for the cake-
I used the Pam Baking spray again, and again I was pleasantly surprised. The cakes fell right out of the pans, no crumbling issues at all.
The tops of the cakes are a tad wet looking. If you try and get rid of that look, you will burn the rest of the cake. Don't rest the cake upside down to cool because the wet spot will stick to the board and not let go.
Freeze the cakes for a half hour or so before frosting so the wet spot firms up and doesn't stick to the icing knife.
To ice it, run a two inch strip of frosting around the top edge of the bottom layer and then pile the apples in the middle to avoid leakage.
I used about 4 cups of icing sugar in the frosting but I also used more caramel sauce. The frosting is definitely a preference thing and it firms up really well in the fridge so don't worry about making it too thin to get the desired flavor.
Ciao!

Caramel Apple Layer Cake
Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 sticks (1 pound) plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 crisp apples (about 1 pound), such as gala, peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup store-bought caramel sauce

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Generously grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.
Using an electric mixer, combine the flour, 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, the baking powder and salt.
Mix in 2 sticks butter at low speed until the mixture is crumbly.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, 1/2 cup cream, applesauce and vanilla. Mix into the flour-butter mixture at medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
Divide the batter between the prepared pans.
Bake until springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cake to release the layers, invert onto the rack and let cool completely.
In a medium skillet, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat.
Add the apple slices and remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar and cook, stirring often, until the apples are tender and the juice is syrupy, about 15 minutes.
Stir in the remaining 3 tablespoons cream and simmer for 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let cool.
Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat the remaining 2 sticks butter and the caramel sauce. Slowly add the confectioners' sugar to taste, and until light, creamy and spreadable. Place in the refridgerator if too soft.
Place 1 cake layer on a cake plate; spread the apple filling evenly on top, then cover with the remaining cake layer. Using an offset spatula or butter knife, cover the top and sides of the cake with the caramel frosting, swirling the top to make a decorative pattern.

Mom's Halloween Birthday

It is my Mom's birthday. On Halloween, I know. We actually like having her birthday on Halloween because it gives us a good excuse when we are trying to get out of another brutal Halloween party. This way we can hand out candy to the cute little kids, and then turn out the lights and watch a movie when the older, more obnoxious 'trick or treaters' come around. This year A & J opened their home to the party. A good idea because they are in a new neighborhood with lots of young families so we had adecent turn out of cute little kids. It also gave A a chance to practice her baking skills with me as we attempted my mom's birthday cake. I say attempt because I hate making layer cakes. I never end up with an even looking tower. It's always lopsided or one layer is careening off the top.

To stack the deck in my favor, I chose a cake from my beloved Paula Deen. Her cakes look amazing, are easy to prepare and I am sure cannot fail. This specific one is out of her Christmas Baking 2007 magazine which mom picked up for me in the States. I have poured over this magazine so many times that I probably know where every recipe is in it. The cake turned out really well with nice, even layers. The icing tasted really yummy the night we made it and was ten times better the next day. I think I will use it on cupcakes in the future. The layers of cake were light and moist and did not rise up with too much of a dome so the cake stayed flat. Next time I will partly freeze the layers first before icing as it was a little difficult with them slightly warm. I used the Pam Baking spray again and the layers fell out of the pan perfectly.

When we sliced the cake open, it looked so even and delicious. It tasted even better. The cake went a long way. It is quite rich and half the cake fed 9 people generously. Looks like alot of work, really wasn't. Oh, and the orange and black balls on top are malt balls, Halloween edition. Ciao!

Chocolate Malt Cake
Paula Deen's Holiday Magazine
Ingredients for cake:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup malted milk powder - such as Ovaltine
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Malted Milk Balls for garnish

Ingredients for icing:
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup malted milk powder
5 cups powdered sugar

Directions for Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 - 9" cake pans.
In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder.
In a small bowl, combine milk and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve.
Add milk mixture, oil and eggs to flour mixture, beating at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
Add sour cream and vanilla, beating until just combined.
Pour batter evenly into pans, and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool and then remove from pans. Spread icing between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with malted milk balls.

Directions for icing:
In a large bowl, beat butter and cocoa powder at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
In a small bowl, combine cream and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add cream mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed to combine. Gradually beat in icing sugar until spreadable.

Sweet Potato Bourbon Poundcake

Can I tell you how much I love sweet potatoes? And bundt cakes. I make alot of Bundt cakes. Not on purpose really, but I find they are very easy to make and always turn out beautiful and delicious. When I found this recipe last week it seemed like the perfect autumn cake to make while I had Saturday to myself.
Yes, I had the whole day completely to myself. No Josh, no guests, just me. With all that free time I managed to get alot of housework done and make the applesauce that I have posted, below. While the applesauce simmered away, I made this cake. The best part about bundt cakes is you can mix them up in minutes and then throw them in the oven for an hour and not worry about them. I have never had one burn or be too dry.
This cake could be compared to a carrot cake but without the overwhelming vegetable taste. It definitely is dense and not sweet which, for having 1.5 cups of sugar in it, was a bit surprising. Nevertheless, it is very subtle and would go quite well with whipping cream. We ate it with good vanilla icecream.
I really don't have much to add to this recipe.
The original recipe called for very little spice so I upped it quite a bit. Even with the additions, I think it could even use some more.
I roasted the sweet potato in the oven which meant I had to let it cool for a while in the fridge before adding it to the egg mixture. If you have sweet potato left over from dinner, this would be a much easier step.
Also, the syrup mixture looks like alot but if you baste the cake with it right out of the oven and while still in the pan, then you will get the bottom of the cake nice and moist. I turned the cake out of the pan while barely warm and basted it probably three more times flipped the right way up. This kept it really moist and held the pecans to the top a little better.
Ciao!


Sweet-Potato Bourbon Bundt
"Bundt Classics" by Dorothy Dalquist

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 cup cooked sweet potato
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup bourbon or apple juice
1 tablespoon baking powder (yes, a tablespoon)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
Nonstick cooking spray with flour
1 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together brown sugar, butter, and eggs until very light and fluffy.
Add sweet potato and vanilla; beat to combine.
Combine flour, baking powder, pie spice, and salt in a bowl.
Add half the flour mixture to the mixer and mix until just incorporated.
Add the milk and combine.
Add the remaining flour and combine.
Finally, add the bourbon and 1 cup chopped pecans and stir in just until incorporated.
Lightly spray a 10 or 12 cup Bundt pan with cooking spray.
Sprinkle bottom of the pan with 1/4c. chopped pecans. Pour in cake batter.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes.
Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.
Brush cake with bourbon syrup.
Serve cake slices with any remaining syrup.

Bourbon syrup:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Boil for about 5 minutes
Add 1 T Butter
2 T Bourbon
1 tsp. vanilla
Boil for another 2 minutes, until beginning to thicken

An Autumn Cake

Wow what a whirlwind month September was. Heck, so is this month for that matter. Usually by now I have baked enough to feed an army but that is not the case this year. I also lost my food guinea pigs, with the closing of Josh's office. Now where to send the goodies?

To get back into the swing of things, I chose a simple pound cake that would be comfort food and a reminder of the wonderful, cozy season we are now in. This cake comes from the October 2007 Bon Appetit and I am sure many of you have made it already.

Just some quick notes on the cake: I used Pam's Baking spray for the bundt pan and I am in love with this product. The cake slid out perfectly, no breakage at all. I also upped the amount of Maple extract to 2 tsp. and I put this in the recipe below. In my opinion, it needed even more but I like strong flavors. I also did not put in the espresso in the glaze as the original recipe called for. It seemed out of place and I am not a fan of coffee in dessert. Other than that, the cake was delicious, although quite plain. Definitely not too sweet at all. We served it last night with a small scoop of vanilla icecream and it made a wonderful dessert.

For my next project, apple strudel. I made the mistake of going to the closing Farmer's Market near my house and I now have 40lbs of apples to contend with. When will I ever learn
Ciao!

Brown Sugar and Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple Glaze

Bon Appetit October 2007

Cake:
1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons maple extract
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons (or more) whipping cream

Preparation for cake: Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter 12-cup Bundt pan. Spray pan generously with nonstick spray. Dust pan lightly with flour. Mix chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons flour in medium bowl. Sift remaining flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt into another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla extract and maple extract. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chip mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 1 hour. Cool cake in pan on rack 30 minutes. Invert cake onto rack and cool completely.

For glaze: Combine powdered sugar, maple syrup and 2 tablespoons cream in medium bowl. Whisk until smooth, adding more cream by 1/2 teaspoonfuls if glaze is too thick to drizzle. Spoon glaze decoratively over top of cake; let stand at room temperature until glaze is firm, about 1 hour.

Baking A Classic

More laundry last night. I am starting to think that my clothes multiply while I am at work. I swear I just put in a load of jeans two days ago. This is ridiculous. I wouldn't mind so much if all of our clothes were wash and wear but, being a downtown office job household, all of our weekly clothes have fancy tags with specific instructions. I break the rules constantly resulting in shrunken and mishapen shirts but, for the most part, I try not to ruin our wardrobes. It's a long, boring and thankless job.
In order to break up the tedium, I baked. What a shocker, I know. Making something new from my pile of recipes is so therepeutic. This little gem is a classic. I wrote about it previously on this blog when I was dieting and practically dreaming about cake. Well, I am still dieting so the entire cake was packed up for Josh's office without so much as a bite snuck. It sure smelled good though. And why shouldn't it? The lovely Ina Garten herself made it. Nothing she touches has ever flopped I am sure.
The only thing I did not do was make the Chocolate Ganache glaze which I included in the recipe anyway. Ganache is not a favorite of mine and I am too nervouse of wrecking it to waste the chocolate chips. Besides, I doubled the orange syrup and that made it sweet enough. I would suggest doubling the orange syrup and glazing the cake with half of it right when the cake comes out of the oven. It will soak in right away and make wonderful bubbling noises. Then I glaze it again when the cake is almost cool so that the syrup forms a nice crust. This is the technique I use on all of my bundt cakes and I think it works very well.
My only other issue, as per usual, is that my stove temperature must not be right. It took one hour and 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Not one hour as stated in the recipe. I think, though, in this case it might not be my oven but the recipe that is wrong. I have never made a bundt cake that only took one hour to bake. At any rate, use a knife or a toothpick to check for doneness at one hour.
Ciao!

Ina Garten’s Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake
½ pound unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
¼ cup grated orange zest (from 4 large oranges)
3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
¾ cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups good semisweet chocolate chunks
Syrup: ¼ cup sugar ¼ cups freshly squeezed orange juice
Ganache: 8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips ½ cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the orange zest.
3. Sift together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour. Toss the chocolate chunks with 2 tablespoons flour and add to the batter. Pour into the pan, smooth the top, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the sugar with the orange juice until the sugar dissolves. Remove the cake from the pan, set it on a rack over a tray, and spoon the orange syrup over the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely.
5. For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Happy Canada Day - and happy poundcake

I have accomplished what I only dream about - I only made new recipes this weekend. No more shall I use my oldies but goodies as a safety net. I can tackle the strangers with gusto.

It was moving weekend for my sister, as well as dear old Canada Day where many a BBQ was lit and many a hamburger scorched. At least at our BBQ there were a few casualties. My project was to come up with dessert which was certainly fine with me. I am always excited to bring dessert and, as most of the people at the BBQ were relatives, I felt it was safe to try the cake recipe that has been sitting patiently in my Inbox thanks to Canadian Baker. Poundcake, I find, is always greasy moist and has a sickly sweet after taste. That is not what I wanted at all for this dessert. I wanted dense crumbs and a real coconut flavor to offset the chocolate fudge and vanilla bean icecream that I was going to pile on top of the slices. Sure enough, it was delicious. Now this recipe is actually a chocolate and coconut swirled pound cake which was fine and I might make again but, in all honesty, I think I would cut out the chocolate portion (I know, I really did say cut the chocolate!), and increase the coconut. It was not sweet at all so I should have added more sweetened coconut flakes and I might have added more vanilla if I hadn't been too nervous.

I will definitely be putting this cake on a recipe card and using it again. I think it would be delicious with macerated berries and whipping cream to take it in a different direction, but then again, hot fudge and icecream is always en vogue!

Lily's Marble Cake
from Canadian Baker's blog
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup whole milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs
1/4 cup cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
1 1/2 cups shredded, sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.
In measuring cup, combine the milk and vanilla. Set aside.
In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the sugar and salt and continue to mix well for about 3 more minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well to combine after each addition.
Alternately add the milk mixture and the flour mixture in 3 additions.
Continue mixing for 5 minutes (beating a long time is important here).
Stir one third of the batter into the cocoa powder in a medium bowl.
Stir the coconut into the remaining golden batter.
Pour the golden batter into the prepared pan, then drop large dollops of the chocolate batter into it. Cut through the batter once or twice with a table knife to make chocolate marble pattern. Do not stir.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a skewer or toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool in the pan. Invert onto a platter (for the best taste, cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight. Slice into wedges for serving. Cake keeps well at room temperature for up to 4 days. Makes 12 servings.

Friends

I am perpetually staring at huge piles of computer printouts. Poor recipes that I find online and insist I will make "tonight" and then toss on my kitchen table and proceed to bake a perennial favorite instead.
I am not sure why this is. Perhaps I have a fear of baking failure and there is always that risk with a new recipe. Also, I tend to have the ingredients on hand for my tried and true's in case I am called upon to bring dessert to a party or cheer up a sick friend. No one wants to unleash a stranger on a poor starving soul.
Sometimes I do attempt to make friends with the strangers, and I have posted the results on this blog. But, for the most part, I go with my friends - they won't let me down. Strangers on the other hand ... they can be mean!
So without further ado... a dear, dear friend.

Sour Cream Orange Coffee Cake with Chocolate-Pecan Streusel
Bon Appetit Magazine February 2002
Streusel
1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled salted butter, diced
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/3 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup orange juice
For streusel:
Whisk brown sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl to blend. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture holds together in small, moist clumps. Mix in pecans and chocolate chips. (Can be made up to 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until blended and smooth. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then orange peel and vanilla extract. Mix in flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with sour cream in 3 additions. Mix in orange juice. Spread half of batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of streusel. Drop remaining batter over by heaping tablespoonfuls; carefully spread batter to make even layer. Sprinkle with remaining streusel.
Bake cake 30 minutes. Lay sheet of foil loosely over pan to keep topping from browning too quickly. Continue baking until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes longer. Remove foil. Cool cake in pan on rack 20 minutes.

Luscious Lemon Cake

I know, I know... when was the last time I posted? With a job change etc. my life has been too hectic to blog but not hectic enough that I would neglect the baking hobby I love so well. As usual, Josh's office has proven to be the best of guinea pigs and they eat all my creations dutifully. Sometimes it is nice to receive alocolades that are not work related. And who am I kidding, no one is ever praised in the workplace.

My latest triumph was found while searching for the perfect lemon cake to use up the poor neglected poppyseeds in my spice rack. I love poppyseeds but, apart from Mohn Kuchen - which I think only my German grandma has ever attempted, there is very little need for them. So it occurred to me that I would find a lemon cake and generously heap in the lovely little black darlings.

This cake is from the "Top Secret Recipes" website that I found while Google-ing away. The claim is that it tastes as good as Starbuck's version (apparently it is their version but I find that hard to believe. At any rate, I added some poppyseeds, and some lemon zest and axed the yellowish powedered sugar frosting - replacing it with a lemon syrup which soaked into the cake and made it the moist wonder that I knew it could be.

"Starbucks" Lemon Loaf
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, room temp
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2teaspoon lemon extract
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
4T. poppyseeds
zest of one lemon

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon juice with a mixer until blended.
Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend until smooth. Add oil, poppyseeds and zest and mix well.
Pour into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. (It took an hour in my oven). Remove from oven and pour glaze over it, then cool in pan on a rack.

Glaze:
1/4c. water
1/3c. sugar
1/4c. lemon juice
Simmer until reduced in half.

A Favorite

I always enjoy trying a new recipe, even if that recipe disappoints me horribly and leaves me despising the kitchen for weeks afterwards. There is something very satisfying about finding a gem among, lets face it, alot of duds. I have stacks and stacks of recipes that I have yet to try and really want to.

So why did I fall back on an old favorite? To use up the unbelievable amounts of canned pumpkin I have. I bought it all in October thinking that I would be baking pumpkin everything for the next two months. Wrong. I got completely sidetracked with new recipes and the poor pumpkin kept getting shoved farther and farther back into the pit that is my cupboards. Finally, after throwing a fit about the state of my baking shelf, I cleaned everything up and salvaged the cans.

I made my grandmothers famous Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Rum Cake which really should be a staple in everyones house. Now that I am married and on my own, the recipe has been passed onto me from my mother so that the pumpkin rum goodness need never die. Though I admit, my first time making it was yesterday and already I have messed with the recipe. I didn't change a single ingredient because there really is no need, but I just didn't want to make a bundt cake. Josh's office, as I have mentioned before, is extremely hectic and no one has time to sit down with a plate and fork and eat a piece of cake. They can, however, tote a muffin around the office while they work. So the cake turned into 18 beautiful mini bundts, each with their own glistening rum glaze.

Again, a recipe met with rave reviews. You have to try this one!
Ciao

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Rum Cake
One bundt cake or 18 muffin size cakes

Cake:
4 eggs
2c. sugar
1c. oil
2 cups canned pumpkin (14 fl. oz.)
2t. baking powder
2t. baking soda
1/2t. cinnamon
3c. flour
1 1/2c. chocolate chips
Glaze:
2T. water
1/2c. sugar
1/4c. butter
1/4c. rum

Beat eggs and sugar until fluffy.
Add pumpkin.
Mix in all dry ingredients just until incorporated.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Pour into greased bundt pan or muffin pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes for the cake or 25 minutes for the muffins.

For the glaze, bring water, sugar and butter to a boil and stir for two minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the rum.
Brush onto still warm cakes and then brush on again when the first coat has soaked in.
This cake is even better the second day.

The Weekend

It was the baking weekend - finally!
Saturday morning we had that yummy french toast just as planned. If you have not been to Prairie Mill Bread in the Northland strip mall, go now. They have amazing bread that manages to taste as good as the day you bought it after two weeks in the freezer. But what I love the most is the Apple Crunch or Cinnamon Swirl. Plain old white bread for french toast just does not cut it anymore. Eggs, and milk is all I use in my batter and then the toast needs to be cut really thick and left on the griddle for a long time. Of course Licia insisted on adding whipped cream to this already calorie laden breakfast and I had to oblige because it is Saturday after all!

Then after all of this yumminess, I decided to get out the Kitchen Aid and finally try a few recipes that I have found on other foodie blogs. The first was a white chocolate blondie for my Sunday lunch party. The idea was to top it with vanilla icecream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce a la Moxies. The blondie was yummy but not so good that I would post the recipe and insist everyone try it. I still want something with a bit more thickness and substance to it. This, ended up with the right flavor, but the texture was off and left me wishing for Moxies. My guests didn't seem to mind though so I will chalk it up to a success.

I also made Torie's Chocolate Chip Cookies, a Martha Stewart staple recipe that I have used for years with great results. This time I left out the dark chocolate chips and raisins and added white chocolate chips along with toffee bits (got to use up those leftover Christmas ingredients somehow!). I just need to remember to underbake them because I hate hard oatmeal cookies.

The final creation and the yummiest of them all was the Banana Cake. Licia has a weakness for anything banana and I thought she would love this cake - plus it gave me a chance to use my new Bundt pan. The pan worked really well and left the golden brown crust on the outside and kept the cake moist with a good crumb. I have included the recipe and pic because it was just so good! It is always nice to have a beautiful Bundt cake as reward for all the hard work. You won't be disappointed with this one and it uses up a common item in my kitchen - brown bananas. This recipe is from Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger.

So there you have it, I slaved in my insufferably hot galley kitchen all evening and ended up with quite a bit to show for it. Enjoy the recipe!

Ciao

Banana Bundt Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 large eggs
1-1/4 cups vegetable oil
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
3 oz. chocolate chips
3 ripe bananas pureed

Butter and flour a tube pan or a bundt pan.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and baking soda).
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs, oil and sugar. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that the sugar has been incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and mix for another 30 seconds.
With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients a bit at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then to ensure everything is incorporated.
Once the dry ingredients have been added, remove the bowl from the stand mixer and add the pecans, chocolate and bananas. Gently fold them in with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Don't over mix.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes and then test the cake to see if it's done by poking a toothpick or cake tester into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done. If not, bake the cake for another 5 to 10 minutes.

And now for something yummy...

Because I love cake and I am forcing myself to not bake in lieu of healthier food, I am just going to post every yummy recipe I want to make but can't. So there!

Ina Garten’s Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake
½ pound unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
¼ cup grated orange zest (from 4 large oranges)
3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
¾ cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups good semisweet chocolate chunks
Syrup:
¼ cup sugar
¼ cups freshly squeezed orange juice
Ganache:
8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the orange zest.
3. Sift together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour. Toss the chocolate chunks with 2 tablespoons flour and add to the batter. Pour into the pan, smooth the top, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the sugar with the orange juice until the sugar dissolves. Remove the cake from the pan, set it on a rack over a tray, and spoon the orange syrup over the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely.
5. For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of the cake.